This essay is about William Carlos Williams. It is about his life and also includes analysis of a few of his poems.

Essay by elcherotherHigh School, 11th gradeA+, December 2003

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William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams was born on September 17th, 1883 in Rutherford, New Jersey. Before realizing his ability of writing, he studied to become a doctor and became a pediatrician. Williams is most famous not for the way he writes, but for what he writes about. He was the first poet, and author, to come up with the crazy idea of writing about everyday things, and not the same old things that are in every poem. He always cut out the unnecessary things from his poems, and has only the words that contribute to the point of the poem. He was the spark that started the fire, which became poems, as we know them today, and changed the whole course of literary history.

The poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" is a great example on how Williams only puts the necessities in his poems. Williams could have gone on for a very long time explaining what he is trying to say, but instead he says what he is thinking and lets the reader figure the rest out.

In the first stanza, he could have made a long list of what depends on the red wheelbarrow, like a farmer or a worker, but he doesn't, which makes the reader have to think. In the third stanza he could have blabbered on about why the wheelbarrow was exactly glazed with rainwater, using metaphors and similes, but he decided he only wanted what was truly necessary. He could have also explained why the white chickens were there in the 4th stanza, but he decides it is unnecessary, so he leaves it out. He ended up with only 4 stanzas, which he believed was all that was necessary.

"The Locust Tree in Flower" had two versions, because after writing the first Williams...